Ducks lose focus in loss

Curtis Anderson

Sunday

Oct 31, 2010 at 12:01 AM

This one was all about focus.

Third-ranked California had it, No. 18 Oregon didn’t, and the end result was a 3-0 sweep for the Golden Bears, who rolled over the Ducks, 25-22, 25-17, 26-24 in a Pac-10 volleyball match before a crowd of 845 at McArthur Court on Saturday.

Maybe it was the Halloween weekend. Or maybe it was the Oregon-USC football game being played at the same time.

But for whatever reason, the Ducks dug themselves a hole in the first set and they were never able to fully climb back into the match.

Cal, which sits atop the Pac-10 standings with a 10-1 record, had four aces in the match, and three of them came in first half of the opening set as the Bears raced out to leads of 5-1, 10-4 and 19-11 before the Ducks rallied to within two, 23-21.

By then, it was too late.

Oregon finished the set with no aces and four missed serves, and when you add Cal’s three aces, that’s a seven-point swing the Ducks couldn’t overcome.

“I was real disappointed in game one,” UO coach Jim Moore said. “In my opinion, it was a lack of focus in the beginning ... we had no aces and four missed serves, and they had three aces and I don’t know how we missed them.”

The second set started better for the Ducks, but after Oregon built a 7-4 lead, Cal roared back to take control at 12-9. The Bears would eventually extend their edge to 22-14 as junior Tarah Murrey tallied eight of her 19 kills in the match.

The third set was the most competitive.

Trailing 18-14, the Ducks went on a 6-1 run to take a 20-19 advantage behind the hitting of Heather Meyers and Katherine Fischer.

For a moment, Mac Court was energized. Cal quickly regained the momentum, however, and the match ended on a UO service error.

As a team, the Ducks hit .278 for the match — their third-best effort in Pac-10 contests this year. Sophomore Alaina Bergsma finished with 11 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Meyers added 10 kills to move into sixth on the all-time UO list with 1,285.

UO setter Lauren Plum posted the fifth double-double of her career, and her first in a three-set match, with 38 assists and 11 digs.

It was nowhere near enough to stay with the Bears, who improved to 20-1 this season, with their only loss coming against USC on Oct. 9. The nation’s second-best team in terms of attack percentage hit .349 against the Ducks.

“Road trips are always tough,” said Cal senior setter Carli Lloyd, who finished with 39 assists, six digs and five kills. “I thought we came out with a lot of focus tonight and we played within ourselves, which is really important ...

“We want it all this year and we’ve been working for that every week. This team does not take breaks. We’re all hard workers and we look forward to getting better each week.”

As for the Ducks, they slipped to 16-7 with their fourth consecutive loss and are in eighth place in the Pac-10 at 4-7.

“Cal is really good. They played well and hit really well,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to decide if we’re going to battle, and we’re going to have to decide if we want to be focused right from the beginning.”

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